Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you’ll live — and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being?

The takeaways from this talk:

“Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in a way that even chocolate – a well-regarded pleasure inducer – cannot match.”

“British researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate.”

“The same study found that smiling is as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash.”